What we know matters. But what we know others know can make or break a deal. Professor Steven Pinker joins host Brett Hendrie to talk about common knowledge — what everyone knows that everyone knows, why it’s crucial to business and negotiation, and how shared understanding helps people get work done.

Show notes:

[0:00 ] Brett Hendrie on moments of shared understanding

[0:58 ] Meet Harvard professor Steven Pinker, who joins the episode to talk about his new book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows.

[2:28 ] What is common knowledge?

[3:49 ] Steven was drawn to the topic because so much of language is what we don’t say… and he began to wonder why we don’t say it.

[4:20 ] “Netflix and chill” is the perfect example of common knowledge in practice.

[5:33 ] How common knowledge can shape advertising and marketing

[7:59 ] It can also influence markets — think speculative bubbles, bank runs and trust in financial institutions.

[11:01 ] Negotiations are often only successful because of common knowledge.

[14:57 ] Complete openness and transparency can backfire — see Bridgewater Associates — and this is where things left unsaid (but still understood) can fill the gaps.

[18:01 ] What do we lose with less common knowledge in a remote or hybrid work environment? Those physical social cues — blushing, glaring, staring — communicate a lot in the end.

[19:51 ] In a world of information bubbles, common knowledge is getting fractured.

[21:09 ] What’s left unsaid has lots of value. “I think the genteel hypocrisy and innuendo and euphemism makes social life possible — but that sometimes gets in the way of actually transacting the business of life. And that balance is, I think, what we call tact, savoir faire, social skill — not being too far along one end of the spectrum. And what I think a lot of that consists of is knowing what to put in common knowledge and what to keep out of common knowledge.”

If you enjoyed this episode, why not give some of our back catalogue a listen? If you want to dig deeper into the psychology of the world around us, check out our discussions with Malcolm Gladwell on how our shared stories shape our world, or Michael Bungay Stanier on the secrets to coaching others.

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